Defenders of Earth
by Little Goose Girl
Summary: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger Adaptation. The massive Draconis army is taking over the universe, one galaxy at a time. Earth is the planet where everyone's paths seem to cross. Can the Power Rangers band together and save the universe, starting with Earth?


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Power Rangers or anything associated with it.

**Rating: **K+

**A/N: **It's been done a million times before, but here is yet another adaptation of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. I won't be doing the whole series, but more just an introduction. I had an idea, and it wouldn't leave me. Plus, I'm sick of waiting for Super Samurai to air in Australia. Hope you enjoy!

**DEFENDERS OF EARTH**

**Part One**

Her feet pounded on the ground, her breathing and the beating of her heart impossibly loud in her ears. They were right on her tail, she could hear them.

She pulled at her skirt as it once again caught on one of the branches she was whirling past. She didn't have time for this, she could hear them catching up to her. She wasn't quiet as she raced through the woods, but the sound they made was deafening.

What was the point? There was nowhere for her to run to; they'd left it too late. She'd left it too late.

But then she saw the lights breaking through the leaves. Those lights, that distinctive hue.

_A ship_, she thought.

As she broke through to the clearing, she could see two men preparing the space ship—shaped like a nautical ship—for departure.

"Wait!" she cried out. "Please, wait!"

The taller of the two men turned to give her a bored glance, then turned and boarded the ship. The other man hesitated slightly, looking in her direction.

"Please!" she cried, reaching her hand out, though she was still hundreds of metres away. "Please!"

"Kaelen, come," the command came from within the ship. The man boarded the ship, sparing a glance back at the girl trailing after them, desperately running as far as her legs would carry her.

"Please!" she begged again. She was so close now, she could almost touch the ship. But it was too late, it was pulling away. She was too late, just like she had been throughout the whole ordeal. Always one step behind. One minute too late. That bit too slow.

For all she knew, they were Draconis soldiers. But they were her only chance. If they were Draconis soldiers, she was dead. But the foot soldiers behind her were definitely from the Draconis empire.

It was her last hope. Her planet's last hope.

"Please," she whispered, but it was useless. They ship was slowing flying away, just ten metres in the air, but out of her reach. She stopped.

Panting, sobbing, almost collapsing where she stood. This was the end.

But then the rope curled down in front of her.

"Hurry!" the man called down to her, his tone gruff. He was peering out of a small opening on the underbelly of the ship.

By the time she had processed what he said, the rope had started pulling away from her. She called on the last reserves of her energy, stretching out her hands to grasp the end of the rope.

Made it, just.

"Pull yourself up," the young man instructed her.

"I'm afraid I can't," she struggled to shout out to him. Her energy was spent. She didn't think she'd be able to hold on much longer, much less scale the rope.

She heard a frustrated grunt come from above her, and next thing she knew, the rope was being hauled up. She looked up, and saw the man bracing himself against the opening as he pulled on the rope, hand over hand. When she was just a metre out, he stuck out one hand to her.

"I don't think I can let go of the rope," she said. Her hands were numb and white. If she moved one, she was sure she would fall. She heard him let out a heavy sigh. The next moment, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist in a firm grip.

Before she knew it, he had pulled her up into the ship. She stayed where she had landed, crouched beside the opening. The young man closed the trap door, before standing near her. He did not face her, though.

After she had caught her breath, she gave him a weary, grateful smile.

"Thank-you," she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

The man just grunted. If she was not mistaken, he sounded a little embarrassed, a little uncomfortable. She turned to look at his face more carefully. He saw her glance, and hid behind his long, brunette fringe. His face had a hawk-like appearance. Strong, but she saw there was something fiercely independent about it. She suspected he did not have much time for other people.

"I'm Adela," the girl said, bowing her head slightly. "I'm a princess from Espérer, the planet we just left."

The young man made no move to introduce himself, so Adela asked, "May I know your name, please? I wish to thank my rescuer."

"I'll take you to the captain," the man said.

"But will you not tell me your name?" Adela asked.

The man didn't reply, but led her up a short staircase and opened a door into a brightly lit room. There stood the other man Adela had seen in the woods. He was carrying a large wooden crate towards another flight of stairs, pausing momentarily when he saw Adela and the man enter the room.

"I see we have a stowaway," the man said, casting a disapproving look in the pair's direction.

"I see we had an incredibly slow take-off," the man by Adela said. The two men exchanged familiar, knowing glances.

"It's not like Kaelen to take pity on the locals," a female voice perked up. Adela turned to see a girl with olive skin and thick black hair approaching her. The girl had a long, straight nose, and looked like one of the many statues Adela's parents had in their garden. "But she is a pretty one—perhaps someone has caught his interest at last?"

"Melina," the man beside Adela—Kaelen—growled warningly. Melina laughed.

"Don't worry," she said to Adela. "We're mostly friendly. That grouch over there is our captain, Captain Bravado."

"How do you do, Captain Bravado?" Adela said politely.

Melina looked at her incredulously. "Unbelievable," she said, blinking confusedly. "I think she's the first one who hasn't asked about the name."

"Asked who about what name?" A blonde boy wearing glasses and clothes about two sizes too big for him stumbled into the room. "That was a close call, Bravado—I thought the plan was to leave the second any Draconis ships turned up on the radar?"

"I thought it would be best if we didn't starve to death just yet," Bravado said, returning to the room. "Food is something of a necessity, last I checked." He turned to face Adela properly, sizing her up. "And what did you do to have the Draconis sending a whole squadron after you in the woods?"

"I'm on a mission," Adela began, but stopped when she saw Bravado's blank stare. Of course, how could the Draconis have known about any mission? Unless she was a terrible secret-keeper, which she was not.

"She's a princess," Kaelen said.

"Great," Melina sighed. Bravado and Kaelen looked no less unhappy.

"A princess?" The blonde boy asked, starry eyed. "Wow! We have a princess on our ship! I suppose we'd better get the best room ready for her."

"Enough, Doc," Bravado said firmly.

"It's Duc," a crimsom-cheeked Duc whispered to Adela.

"We're dropping the Princess off at the nearest planet—how long will that take us?"

"Yula is just a few days away," Duc said, consulting a computer in the middle of the room. "But that's no place for a princess. Maybe we should take her to Odair? That'll take a couple of weeks, but it's on our way."

"No, Yula will be just fine," Bravado said. "And make sure the Draconis notice. We don't want them thinking we're taking them on. Three days. Yula. You better work out your plan from there, princess."

"No," Adela said firmly, mustering up her courage and speaking up. She almost quaked under Bravado's hard stare, but she held her ground. So what if he shouted at her? Embarrassed her? There was so much more at stake here. "You will take me to Earth."

"Earth?" Melina furrowed her brow, looking first at Adela then at Captain Bravado. "I've never heard of it."

"I have," Bravado said, smirking. "Interesting little planet for a princess such as yourself to be talking about."

"I haven't heard of it," Kaelen whispered so that only Bravado could hear. Bravado just cocked his eyebrow. Not now.

"My mother's cousin once met a group of travellers from there," Adela said, meeting Bravado's gaze squarely. "They were a group called Power Rangers. If you've heard of Earth, perhaps you have heard of them."

"Power Rangers?" Bravado's smirk slipped ever-so-slightly, but he quickly returned it to his face. "Can't say I have."

"They are warriors, defenders of planet Earth," Adela began, before Melina interrupted her.

"Then what use are they to you?"

"They are defenders of Earth and beyond," Adela continued, looking now at Melina. Her hands were starting to shake, so she clasped them together, holding them in against her stomach. "My mother's cousin joined them. She was a defender, too. Her name is Maya. She was a Power Ranger. The Yellow Galaxy Ranger."

"So what do you want these Power Rangers for?" Duc asked, stepping a little closer to her, before a glare from Kaelen sent him retreating to the wall.

"My mother thought they might be able to help—they might be the only ones able to help us."

"How big is this Power Rangers army?" Melina asked, beginning to pace.

"Oh, they are not an army," Adela said. "About one hundred Power Rangers exist, by my mother's calculations."

Adela looked up when the room around her fell absolutely silent. A moment later, Melina burst out laughing. Bravado smirked a condescending smirk. Kaelen looked stunned, then shook his head, while Duc looked concerned.

"Perhaps she is more disoriented by space travel than I thought at first," Duc said.

"You do realise the Draconis army numbers in the hundreds of millions, don't you?" Melina said when she'd caught her breath. She looked ready to start laughing again at any moment.

"The Power Rangers are not ordinary warriors," Adela said determinedly, although she felt her cheeks beginning to burn. "My mother believes—"

"Enough about your mother," Bravado interrupted, holding his hand up. "She's clearly a fool."

Bravado felt his voice die in his throat when he saw the look Adela was giving him. Her eyes were dark, shadowed. Her mouth set in a firm, straight line. Her eyebrows bunched up, and her hands clenched to fists at her side.

"Don't you dare speak of my mother," Adela said in a dangerous tone.

"At last, the princess shows some fight," Bravado said, but his voice was a lot less confident than it had been earlier. "Though you do have some nerve. Forcing your way on my ship. Demanding passage to a faraway planet. I ought to throw you out the hatch right now."

"Bravado," Melina hissed warningly, taking pity on the clearly distressed girl. "His bark is a million times worse than his bite," she said comfortingly too the girl.

Seeing the tears starting to form in Adela's eyes, Duc led hurried to her side, mumbling something about showing her to her room.

"Nearest planet," Bravado called after her. "That's where we're dropping you off."

Melina left the room still chuckling. She was headed to her usual post in the crow's nest. That left only Bravado and Kaelen in the room now.

Bravado could feel Kaelen's eyes following him, burning into him, but he refused to acknowledge the other young man. He could ignore him no longer when Kaelen planted himself right in front of Bravado.

"She's young and she's scared," Kaelen said simply.

"Since when do you give people excuses?" Bravado asked, not expecting an answer.

"None of us want to get dragged into a fight, but we each have a score to settle with the Draconis."

"Not me," Bravado said airily. Too airily. "And I wouldn't have thought that any of you would be so keen to get yourself killed."

"I saw your face," Kaelen said, ignoring Bravado once again. "You know who these Power Rangers are, don't you?"

Bravado let out a frustrated sigh. "Not as such," he said gruffly. "But I have heard of them."

Kaelen was quiet a moment, before venturing to say, "The Phantom—"

"Doc!" Bravado shouted. The clumsy blonde came bursting into the room, looking more than a little flustered. "Set the co-ordinates for Earth."

"But you said—" Duc began, before seeing the glower on Bravado's face. "Right. Earth. How do you spell that?"

Kaelen and Bravado just looked at him blankly, before simultaneously turning and wandering off to the private rooms.

"Right, no, that's okay! I'll figure it out," Duc called after them, knowing they couldn't hear him. "I'll figure it out. Earth—here we come."

**And there ends part one. Thoughts? I love the space pirates concept, so I'm going to be sticking with that. And if the current season is anything to go by, it's not unreasonable to think the Power Rangers' personalities will be similar to those of their Super Sentai counterparts.**

**Now, a bit of an explanation behind the names I chose:**

**Captain Marvelous = Captain Bravado; real name: "Evarado", meaning brave. It's a pun :-D**

**Joe = Kaelen, meaning "mighty warrior".**

**Luka = Melina, meaning "bright yellow".**

**Hakase = 'Doc', a nickname derived from 'Duc', meaning "moral, good".**

**Ahim = Adela, meaning "noble, serene".**

**Take care,**

**Little Goose**


End file.
